Raleigh vs San Diego - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Raleigh	San Diego
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2317	$3507
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5372	$7962
🏠 One person rent	$1430	$2395
🏘️ Family rent	$2327	$4150
🍽️ Food expenses	$612	$737
🚐 Transport expenses	$90.3	$179
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$4411	$5553
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	14 km	3 km
🎓 Higher education	82	86
😀 Quality of life	89	91
🏙️ Population	468K	1.39M

The cost of living in Raleigh is 34% less expensive than in San Diego. Cities ranked 1246th and 50th ($2317 vs $3507) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1054th and 38th in the United States.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.9 months in Raleigh compared to 1.6 months in San Diego. Ranked 64th vs 26th best cities to live in the United States, and 245th vs 137th among the best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Raleigh vs San Diego

Prices for goods and services in Raleigh and San Diego are partly crowdsourced by our visitors, just like yourself. Please consider telling us about your city.

	Raleigh	San Diego
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$18	$22.1
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$72.5	$86.3
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$9.6	$15
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.67	$8.74
☕ Cappuccino	$6.02	$6.24
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.48	$3.1
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1562	$2519
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1149	$2068
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2603	$4514
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1919	$3653
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$133	$165
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$207	$253
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$65.1	$71.6
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.42%	6.5%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3603	$8566
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2208	$6843
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.68	$2.51
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$48.1	$72
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$16.3	$19.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.79	$1.23
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.97	$1.28
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.39	$3.98
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.78	$3.95
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.45	$6.16
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.3	$16
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.4	$13.6
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$16.8	$20.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.47	$4.33
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.26	$1.8
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.98	$4.22
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.45	$4.8
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.68	$2.67
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.36	$2.5
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.46	$1.61
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.63	$3.26
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$15	$16.7
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.92	$2.8
🚬 Cigarette pack	$8.71	$12.2
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$10.6	$14.9
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.44	$9.99
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.97	$5.5
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$2.73	$2.48
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$44.2	$62.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$15	$18.2
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$137	$131
💇 Haircut, simple	$28.8	$30.3
👖 Brand Jeans	$54.3	$63
👟 Brand Sneakers	$108	$109
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1374	$1998
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$24650	$26517

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Raleigh

Distance	City	Cost of living
12 km or 7.6 mi	Garner	$2246
15 km or 9.1 mi	Cary	$2470
17 km or 10 mi	Morrisville	$1831
21 km or 13 mi	Wake Forest	$2194
21 km or 13 mi	Apex	$2278
25 km or 16 mi	Holly Springs	$2313
28 km or 18 mi	Fuquay-Varina	$2242
30 km or 19 mi	Durham	$2109
38 km or 23 mi	Chapel Hill	$2308
60 km or 37 mi	Henderson	$2111
61 km or 38 mi	Sanford	$1943
65 km or 41 mi	Wilson	$2003
77 km or 48 mi	Rocky Mount	$1780
77 km or 48 mi	Goldsboro	$1773
78 km or 49 mi	Burlington	$2123
87 km or 54 mi	Fayetteville	$2159
106 km or 66 mi	Asheboro	$2081
109 km or 68 mi	Danville	$1750
110 km or 68 mi	Greensboro	$2036
114 km or 71 mi	Roanoke Rapids	$2056
114 km or 71 mi	Kinston	$2088
117 km or 73 mi	Greenville	$2057
123 km or 76 mi	High Point	$1917
129 km or 80 mi	Thomasville	$2030
133 km or 83 mi	Kernersville	$2202
137 km or 85 mi	Lumberton	$1987
141 km or 87 mi	Rockingham	$2079
149 km or 92 mi	Winston-Salem	$2122
163 km or 101 mi	Jacksonville	$2001
165 km or 103 mi	New Bern	$1847
166 km or 103 mi	Salisbury	$2080
182 km or 113 mi	Kannapolis	$2027
182 km or 113 mi	Lynchburg	$1814
183 km or 114 mi	Concord	$1963
189 km or 117 mi	Havelock	$1969
190 km or 118 mi	Wilmington	$2211
191 km or 119 mi	Petersburg	$2378
196 km or 122 mi	Monroe	$2126
196 km or 122 mi	Mint Hill	$2174
198 km or 123 mi	Roanoke	$1736

Cities near San Diego

Distance	City	Cost of living
4.2 km or 2.6 mi	Coronado	$3220
7.2 km or 4.5 mi	National	$3053
13 km or 7.8 mi	Lemon Grove	$2995
14 km or 9 mi	Chula Vista	$2995
14 km or 9 mi	La Mesa	$2963
16 km or 9.8 mi	Imperial Beach	$2933
18 km or 11 mi	La Jolla	$3033
21 km or 13 mi	El Cajon	$3040
24 km or 15 mi	Tijuana	$1295
25 km or 15 mi	Santee	$2948
30 km or 19 mi	Poway	$2995
38 km or 24 mi	Encinitas	$3243
40 km or 25 mi	Las Delicias	$1141
43 km or 26 mi	Rosarito Beach	$1138
46 km or 29 mi	Escondido	$3261
47 km or 30 mi	San Marcos	$2995
52 km or 33 mi	Carlsbad	$3245
54 km or 33 mi	Vista	$2976
57 km or 36 mi	Oceanside	$3251
73 km or 46 mi	Fallbrook	$2927
88 km or 55 mi	Temecula	$2676
91 km or 57 mi	San Clemente	$2963
95 km or 59 mi	Murrieta	$3070
97 km or 61 mi	Dana Point	$3030
98 km or 61 mi	French Valley	$2758
99 km or 61 mi	San Juan Capistrano	$3085
99 km or 61 mi	Wildomar	$2815
104 km or 65 mi	Laguna Niguel	$3513
107 km or 66 mi	Laguna Beach	$3122
107 km or 67 mi	Menifee	$2621
109 km or 68 mi	Ensenada	$968
109 km or 68 mi	Lake Elsinore	$2669
110 km or 68 mi	Mission Viejo	$3544
110 km or 69 mi	Laguna Hills	$3027
111 km or 69 mi	Rancho Santa Margarita	$2980
114 km or 71 mi	Aliso Viejo	$3449
114 km or 71 mi	Lake Forest	$2554
115 km or 72 mi	Hemet	$2767
119 km or 74 mi	Perris	$2697
119 km or 74 mi	Temescal Valley	$2804